


Death & The Doctor

by TheOtherWillow



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), The Sandman
Genre: Gen, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-30
Updated: 2012-07-30
Packaged: 2017-11-11 02:02:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/473224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOtherWillow/pseuds/TheOtherWillow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Because I could not stop for Death, she kindly stopped for me,” he muttered under his breath as he watched her approach. The silver glimmer of her necklace was an incongruous twinkle against her black attire.  “Have you come for me, then?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Death & The Doctor

“Because I could not stop for Death, she kindly stopped for me,” he muttered under his breath as he watched her approach. The silver glimmer of her necklace was an incongruous twinkle against her black attire. “Have you come for me, then?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said with a snort. “You can feel the timelines better than that. Without the interference of the rest of your people listening in, they should be screaming at you.”

He jerked his head in agreement. There was no need to tell her she was correct, they both knew it wasn’t his time. “Then why are you here,” he asked flatly.

“I have something of yours,” she said, and held out her hand in a fist, palm up. He shrank back in horror at the golden glow that leaked between her fingers.

“I don’t want it,” he declared resolutely, leaping to his feet in agitation.

“It doesn’t matter if you do,” she replied serenely. “It’s still yours.”

“Not for a long time.”

“Jonathan Tyler Smith, is what he called himself, but it’s not as if you could fool _me_. As if I wouldn’t recognize the soul of-”

“The Doctor, if you please,” he broke in, uncomfortably aware that her lips had been about to shape the forbidden syllables of his true name.

“Okay,” she agreed. It made no difference to her what he called himself, the essence of who he was shone like a small sun to her eyes. Standing slowly, she offered him her closed hand again. “Doctor.”

The command in her voice demanded obedience. He tore at his hair in agitation, desperate to think of a way to refuse. Finally he slumped, knowing there was no true way to deny her. _No one_ denied her. “Please,” he whispered brokenly, “don’t make me.”

She merely watched him with her dark eyes, awaiting his inevitable concession. Death was nothing if not patient.

Hesitantly he reached out, cupping the golden glow she slid into his palm reverently as it sank into his skin. His breath caught in his throat as a human lifetime's worth experiences melded into his very being. He clutched his hand to his chest, directly between the syncopated beat of his twin hearts, and smiled as his eyes stung with unshed tears. An entire life, lived day by day. The one adventure he had never thought to have, and Rose Tyler had given it to him. A joyful bark of laughter erupted from his chest. _Oh, Rose Tyler!_

"Thank you," he choked out as Death watched him sputter. She grinned at wordlessly and turned to go.

“You’re the reason I ran,” he said suddenly, interrupting her before she could leave.

She looked at him questioningly over her shoulder.

“As a child,” he elaborated, “when they showed me to the Untempered Schism. I looked in and I saw your face. You…you smiled at me.”

“Ah,” she said knowingly. “Sorry about that. Your entire race usually belonged to Time and Destiny. You were the first one in a long while who had the capacity to belong to us all. Destruction and I had just settled our little disagreement over who had first claim on you.”

“And?” He prompted when it seemed she didn’t intend to continue. A shiver slithered up his spine as she smiled at him again before answering.

“I won the coin toss.”


End file.
